July 14, 2009

This much we know: it wasn't Pat Corrales.

"It's a huge part of the puzzle. It's a huge part of the makeup of a championship-caliber club. I've been on several championship clubs in the big leagues, and you don't win unless you have guys in the clubhouse that have character, that stick together and that play as a unit." (Mike Rizzo, via Washington TImes, 7/3/2009)

"...after a recent game, a Major League Baseball player asked a female intern from another media outlet if she'd like to join him at a club in Houston later that night.

That was the first stupid decision made by the player, who just happens to be a married father. The young lady then accepted his phone number, which was a major no-no in the context of how it was offered.

As if that weren't silly enough, the young lady, who has nearly 700 "friends" on Facebook, decided to post this message on her Facebook account for over four hours: "Was asked out by (team name and player name) last night and I have his cell phone number to prove it."

Naturally, it turns out that the failed pickup attempt was perpetrated by a current member of the Nationals: Courtesy of Steinberg's Bog this morning, Jeff Pearlman reported yesterday that the player was indeed a Washington National. Of course, given the new focus on the importance of character around NatsTown, the team responded swiftly: by considering a ban on interns in the clubhouse.

"According to a baseball source, the ballplayer ... was a member of the Washington Nationals. Furthermore, because of the incident, the Nationals are now considering a permanent, all-encompassing ban of interns from the team's clubhouse."

Our own Anonymous sources, always with no knowledge of the situation, confirmed for us that the player was definitely not freshly-minted bench coach Pat Corrales.